Safety stop lock

ABSTRACT

A safety stop lock for drawers and the like, having catches extending laterally beyond the periphery of the drawer to bear against the border surrounding the drawer opening. The catches are mounted inwardly from the front wall of the drawer to space the front wall from said border when the catches bear against the outer wall of the border to stop further inward movement, and to align the front wall of the drawer flush with the outer wall of the border when the catches bear against the inner wall of the border to lock against outward movement of the drawer. The catches are biased outward laterally under spring loading and are drawn inwardly to permit passage through the border surrounding the drawer opening by turning the arms of a lock handle, to which the catches are pivotally connected, from an aligned extended position to an unaligned withdrawn position.

United States Patent 11 1 Latham Jan. 28, 1975 1 SAFETY STOP LOCK [75]lnventor: Ernest W. Latham, North Aurora,

[73] Assignee: Bentson Industries, Inc., Aurora, 111.

[22] Filed: Dec. 12, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 423,971

Primary E.raminer .lames C. Mitchell Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Ernest S.Kettelson [57] ABSTRACT A safety stop lock for drawers and the like,having catches extending laterally beyond the periphery of the-drawer tobear against the border surrounding the drawer opening. The catches aremounted inwardly from the front wall of the drawer to space the frontwall from said border when the catches bear against the outer wall ofthe border to stop further inward movement, and to align the front wallof the drawer flush with the outer wall of the border when the catchesbear against the inner wall of the border to lock against outwardmovement of the drawer. The catches are biased outward laterally underspring loading and are drawn inwardly to permit passage through theborder surrounding the drawer opening by turning the arms of a lockhandle, to which the catches are pivotally connected, from an alignedextended posi-' tion to an unaligned withdrawn position.

3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures SAFETY STOP LOCK BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates to a safety catch incorporated into a lock fordrawers and the like to prevent accidental and abrupt closure whichmight result in injury to fingers or other members and objects caughtbetween the drawer wall and border surrounding its opening. Theinvention is particularly desirable for drawers used as tub files forsuch items as tabulating cards, index cards and the like which becomevery heavy with large numbers of cards involved, creating a tendency forthe drawer to slam shut unexpectedly and with substantial force. Sinceemployees constantly work in such files to retrieve, tile and examinecards, their fingers are exposed to great danger of being caught andinjured if the drawer slams shut unexpectedly. This invention isprovided to protect against such unexpected closure, and to do so byincorporating the safety stop feature in a closure lock which is itselfa desirable if not essential element of drawers for tab cards, indexcards and other data cards of considerable operations value.

Other devices are known to stop or cushion a drawer against accidentalabrupt closure, such as mating teeth between a fixed rack and a moveableunit on the drawer, arcuate recesses and other obstructions on tracks tocatch drawer rollers, manually adjusted bumpers, cam and followerdevices, reaction type bumpers, stops along telescope carriage tracks,spring cushions and the like. The objective of such devices is to slowdown or stop abrupt movement of a drawer inwardly and in some casesoutwardly as well, or abrupt closure of a door. It is not an objectiveto such devices to also function as a lock for the drawers or doors, andthe structure of such devices accordingly differs substantially from theinvention described herein.

It is an object of this invention to provide a safety stop lock whichincorporates a safety catch into a lock for drawers and the like.

It is an object of this invention to provide a safety stop lock fordrawers and the like having catches extending from the periphery toengage the border surrounding the drawer opening, on the outside to stopunintended closure and on the inside to lock against open- It is anobject of this invention to provide a safety stop lo c k whichautomatically stops from complete closure when a drawer or door is openand automatically locks against opening when the drawer or door isclosed.

It is an object of this invention to provide a safety stop lock fordrawers and the like having peripherally extending catches spacedinwardly away from the closure wall of the drawer to provide a safetyopening between the closure wall and the outer border surrounding thedrawer opening when functioning as a safety stop and to align theclosure wall flush with the outer border when functioning as a lock.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A drawer or other closure member is providedwith catches extending laterally beyond its periphery to engage theborder surrounding its opening to prevent complete closure until thecatches are withdrawn, and when the drawer is closed to prevent openinguntil the catches are withdrawn. The catches are biased toward theirextended position and aligned with the radial arms of a twist handle towhich they are pivotally attached. When the handle is turned bringingits arms out of alignment with the pivotally attached catches, they aredrawn inwardly to clear the border opening either to open the drawer orfully close. Upon releasing the handle, spring loading returns itsradial arms into alignment with the attached catches causing them toreextend beyond the periphery of the drawer or other closure member.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view ofacabinet having drawers which embody the safety stop lock in'accordancewith this invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view partially in section of a drawer and the safetystop lock in accordance with this invention.

FIG. 3 is a fragmented perspective view of the inner closure wall of adrawer embodying this invention.

FIG. 4 is an elevation view of a bullet catch for use in this inventionshown seated in the collar keyed to the center shaft illustrated incross section.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of thesafety stop lock in accordance with this invention is described hereinand illustrated in the accompanying drawings. A catch assembly 1includes bumper stops 2 mounted on the free ends of extension arms 3which extend laterally beyond the periphery of side walls 4 of drawer 5.The opposite ends of extension arms 3 are pivotally linked at 6 toradial arms 7 to lock handle assembly 8.

The lock handle assembly 8 includes a center shaft 9 rotatably mountedthrough front closure wall 10 of drawer 5. Radial arms 7 are mounted toextend laterally from the end of center shaft 9 which is inward ofclosure wall 10, and lock handle 11 is provided at the opposite end ofcenter shaft 9 outward of closure wall 10. Coil springs 12 are fastenedbetween outward portions of radial arms 7 and the inside of closure wall10 to bias raidal arms 7 in alignment with extension arms 3 whereby suchextension arms 3 are fully extended. A collar 19 having a retentiongroove 13 is keyed ,to center shaft 9 inside of closure wall 10. Abullet catch 14 is mounted on the inner face of closure wall 10positioned-to seat in retention groove 13 when radial arms 7 are alignedwith extension arms 3, thereby serving to hold such arms in alignmentand keeping bumper stops 2 fully extended until pressure is exerted torotate center shaft 9 and collar 19 causing bullet catch 14 to unseat.

Extension arms 3 extend beyond the side walls 4 of drawer 5 throughslots 15 formed in side walls 4 inwardly of front closure wall 10 at apoint which (a) provides a safety space between closure wall 10 andborder 16 surrounding the drawer opening when drawer 5 is opened andbumper stops 2 bear against the outside of border 16, and (b) permitscatch assembly 1 to engage latch means 17 when closure wall 10 isaligned flush with the outside of border 16 to lock drawer 5 in closedposition.

The safety space is selected of desired width to avoid injury to fingersand other members, or damage to property, which might be otherwisecaught between closure wall 10 and border 16 if drawer 5 should fullyclose unexpectedly.

The latch means 17 may be a specially mounted catch appropriately spacedinward from border 16, or'

as shown in FIG. 2, the inner wall 17 of border 16 of a file cabinetagainst which the free end portions of extension arms 3 bear to lockdrawer 5 in closed positin when the outer face of closure wall isaligned flush with the outside of border 16. I

Chrome abutment strips 18 may be provided along border 16 for contactwith bumper stops 2. Such bumper stops are preferably of a resilientmaterial such as rubber.

The safety stop lock of this invention operates as follows. When drawer5 is closed, radial arms 7 and extension arms 3 carrying bumper stops 2are aligned and fully extended bearing against the inner wall of border16. Lock handle 11 is rotated causing radial arms 7 to rotate out ofalignment with pivotally linked extension arms 3 thereby drawing theminward until bumper stops 2 clear border 16 permitting withdrawal ofdrawer 5 to an open position. Upon release of handle 11, coil springs 12draw radial arms 7 back into an aligned position with extension arms 3carrying bumper stops 2 to the fully extended position. At such point,bullet catch 14 seats in retention groove 13 thereby holding theassembly in such fully extended position. If the drawer 5 should bemoved accidentlly or otherwise toward the closed position, bumper stops2 would engage bumper strips 18 along border 16 and stop furthermovement of drawer 5 leaving a safety space for protection of fingers,hands or objects which might otherwise be caught and injured. To closedrawer 5, lock handle 11 is again rotated as described to enable bumperstops 2 to clear border 16 until the outer face of closure wall 10 isaligned flush with the outside of border l6 and drawer 5 is fullyclosed. When handle 11 is released, coil springs 12 cause extension arms3 to fully extend and engage the inner wall 17 of border 16 therebylocking drawer 5 in closed position.

The described invention is adapted for use with doors as well as drawersof a file cabinet, desk or other fixture. In fact, it may be used withany closure member which moves into and away from a frame or border thatsurrounds an opening to receive the closure member.

The particular form of the invention described herein and illustrated inthe accompanying drawings are preferred embodiments, and various changesin the size, shape, materials and arrangement of parts may be madewithout departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of theattached claims.

Having thus set forth my invention, what I claim is:

1. A safety stop lock for a closure member, said closure member having afront closure wall and a pair of spaced apart side walls extendinginwardly from said front closure wall and normal thereto, border meanssurrounding an opening to receive said closure member, said border meanshaving an outer surface in facing relationship with said front closurewall, slot means formed through said side walls at a first designatedlocation, an extending arm movably mounted in association with saidfront closure wall adapted to extend laterally beyond the periphery ofat least one of said side walls through said slot means and movablebetween a retracted and an engagement position, bumper means at theouter end of said extending arm having inward facing and an outwardfacing abutment means, said inward facing abutment means beingpositioned for abutment against said outer surface of said border meanswhen said extending arm is in said engagement position and said frontclosure wall is spaced outwardly from said border means, said firstdesignated location of said slot means being spaced apart inwardly fromsaid front closure wall a distance to define a safety space extendingbetween said front closure wall and said border means when said inwardfacing abutment means of said bumper means abuts said outer surface ofsaid border means, said distance defining said safety space beinggreater than the corresponding dimension of a selected item said safetyspace is provided to protect.

2- A. afetzsto 9k, f9! 92 11 .95? m t s s t forth in claim 1, whereinsaid selected item is ''hum'n hand.

3. A safety stop lock for a closure member as set forth in claim 1,wherein said closure member is a drawer and said border means a wallportion of a fixture surrounding the drawer opening, latch means havingan engagement surface at a second designated location for alignment withsaid bumper means when said extending arm is in said engagementposition, said second designated locaton of the engagement surface ofsaid latch means being spaced apart inwardly from the outer surface ofsaid border means a sufficient distance for said engagement surface ofsaid latch means to restrainingly bear against the outward facingabutment means of said bumper means when said extending arm is in saidengagement position and when said drawer is closed with the outersurface of said front closure wall lying in the same plane as the outersurface of said border means, said latch means in engagement with saidbumper means thereby retaining said drawer in closed position.

1. A safety stop lock for a closure member, said closure member having afront closure wall and a pair of spaced apart side walls extendinginwardly from said front closure wall and normal thereto, border meanssurrounding an opening to receive said closure member, said border meanshaving an outer surface in facing relationship with said front closurewall, slot means formed through said side walls at a first designatedlocation, an extending arm movably mounted in association with saidfront closure wall adapted to extend laterally beyond the periphery ofat least one of said side walls through said slot means and movablebetween a retracted and an engagement position, bumper means at theouter end of said extending arm having inward facing and an outwardfacing abutment means, said inward facing abutment means beingpositioned for abutment against said outer surface of said border meanswhen said extending arm is in said engagement position and said frontclosure wall is spaced outwardly from said border means, said firstdesignated location of said slot means being spaced apart inwardly fromsaid front closure wall a distance to define a safety space extendingbetween said front closure wall and said border means when said inwardfacing abutment means of said bumper means abuts said outer surface ofsaid border means, said distance defining said safety space beinggreater than the corresponding dimension of a selected item said safetyspace is provided to protect.
 2. A safvety stop lock for a closuremember as set forth in claim 1, wherein said selected item is a humanhand.
 3. A safety stop lock for a closure member as set forth in claim1, wherein said closure member is a drawer and said border means a wallportion of a fixture surrounding the drawer opening, latch means havingan engagement surface at a second designated location for alignment withsaid bumper means when said extending arm is in said engagementposition, said second designated locaton of the engagement surface ofsaid latch means being spaced apart inwardly from the outer surface ofsaid border means a sufficient distance for said engagement surface ofsaid latch means to restrainingly bear against the outward facingabutment means of said bumper means when said extending arm is in saidengagement position and when said drawer is closed with the outersurface of said front closure wall lying in the same plane as the outersurface of said border means, said latch means in engagement with saidbumper means thereby retaining said drawer in closed position.